PhD defence by Jeppe Mikkelsen

Abstract

Robots are becoming essential for tasks in urban management, agriculture, mining, etc. However, when robots work together in large teams, they face complex challenges. They must avoid collisions, maintain communication, and coordinate their actions to function effectively. This coordination becomes even harder when every robot depends on the behavior of all others, creating what are called global interdependencies.

To address these challenges, methods were developed that help robots independently plan their actions while still cooperating to meet shared requirements.

One part of the research focuses on rigid formations, such as drones flying in a specific pattern while avoiding obstacles. Each robot translates its desired movement into a shared "formation state." The robots then use a consensus mechanism to agree on this state and then map it back to their individual movement plans.

The second part looks at communication within swarms of robots. Since robots in a swarm often rely on ad-hoc networks where information is passed between robots, the performance of each robot affects the entire group. Distributed optimization approaches were developed, allowing each robot to plan its actions independently while ensuring the network remains connected. Simulations and experiments demonstrated that these methods enable robots to achieve their goals while maintaining critical formation and communication requirements.

These advancements bring us closer to deploying large, cooperative teams of robots for real-world applications.

Supervisors

• Main supervisor: Associate Professor Matteo Fumagalli, Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, DTU
• Co-supervisor: Professor Ole Ravn, Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, DTU
• Co-supervisor: Associate professor Roberto Galeazzi, Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, DTU

External examiners

• Professor George Nikolakopoulos, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden
• Professor Dimos Dimarogonas, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

Chair of assessment committee

• Associate Professor Roberto Dimitrios Papageorgiou, Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, DTU

Master of the Ceremony

• Associate Professor Søren Hansen, Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, DTU